US President Donald Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator is in talks with federal regulators to resolve allegations that he used nonpublic information to profit from bets on Kalshi markets tied to the president’s speeches, ABC News reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to reportGabriel Perez, a technical assistant operating Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, allegedly placed bets on more than a dozen markets related to Trump’s speeches, generating a profit of more than $100,000.
Kalshi detected this activity through its surveillance systems and referred the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the outlet reported. The contracts were part of the “Mentions” market operating on the platform, thanks to which users could bet on whether certain words, phrases or topics would appear in public speeches.
According to ABC sources, Perez sometimes left his stations mid-speech when Trump skipped prepared segments containing words he assumed would be mentioned. Regulators reportedly discovered bets linked to more than a dozen speeches over the course of about three months, including the State of the Union address and appearances at the World Economic Forum.
Following this report, the White House placed Perez on unpaid administrative leave, according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who stated that Trump called the alleged behavior “a disgrace.”
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Prediction markets confront insider trading analysis
Prediction markets are coming under increasing scrutiny over potential insider trading following a surge in trading volumes in recent months.
In March, six Polymarket traders made about $1 million after correctly betting that the United States would strike Iran before the end of February, raising questions about possible access to nonpublic information. Bloomberg, citing analytics firm Bubblemaps, reported that several wallets placed bets just hours before the first reports of explosions in Tehran.
In a separate incident, wallets made more than $1.2 million in bets in an onchain investigation into DeFi platform Axiom shortly before blockchain researcher ZachXBT published allegations of insider trading involving an employee.
Another trader also made about $400,000 by correctly placing a bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shortly before the news became public.
These incidents have attracted increased attention from lawmakers and regulators. Last month, Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, introduced legislation that would prohibit members of Congress and their immediate families from trading in the market for forecast contracts tied to public policy and political outcomes.
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